Strange mile
by Fokusas
Summary: It is said that to know someone you need to walk mile in their shoes, but what to do if that person walks barefoot and hate shoes? Koh decided to learn that and he is up to something else and that isn't to teach others how good your life is (was). Read and find out.
1. The Deal

**AN: ****_Avatar: the Last Airbender_**** belongs to Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko.**

******I would like to thank to Vladimir Zhivanevskaya for Beta chapter. **

~~~~Strange mile~~~~

Agni kai between Azula and Zuko.

"No lightning today?" Zuko taunted, "What's the matter? Afraid I'll redirect it?"

Ignoring her body's protests Azula screamed, "I'll show you lightning!" before beginning the deadly movements to summon the awesome and lethal power. She watched Zuko prepare himself for her attack, and knew with certainty he would be able to redirect it. Or not. If she was clever, she might be able to shoot two rabbits with one bolt of lightning. In corner of her eyes, she noticed a new target.

_"That filthy water tribe savage, Katara, the girl that managed to undo her action in Ba Sing Se and revive the Avatar. How could she? I ... I ... Well now it's payback time. And, knowing poor Zuzu, he will try to do something stupid, like cover her while he is unprepared for it. Poor Zuzu, he probably likes her, but she loves the Avatar. I am going to end your pain ... dear__**Brother**__. On the other hand, it may cause you even__**MORE**__"_ Azula thought, a maniacal grin appearing on her face.

Time stopped.

Zuko saw Azula grinning and laughing maniacally, and realized that something was wrong. He instinctively jumped to the side where Katara stood; she was frozen in fear, seeing the approaching lightning…and her doom. Panic was written all over her face. Her entire life passed before her eyes and she reconciled to the fact that she would never see Aang again or tell him that she loved him, as well as never see her brother, father and friends. This was the end.

However, it was not the end. Zuko leaped in front of her, ending up in the lightning's path. It caused him pain ... lots of pain, and he instinctively redirected the lightning bolt in a random direction before losing consciousness. Or maybe he was already unconscious, and this was only muscle memory?

Azula saw Zuko as lightning struck him in the chest and a terrible cry of pain left his throat. The next moment, one of Zuko hands suddenly veered toward her, and out of it shot her own redirected lightning. Zuko's body fell to the ground. Fear came upon Azula. She saw that there was no opportunity to get out of its way so she created a huge sphere of blue fire around herself, hoping to stop, or at least mitigate the lightning hit. She realized that this one act had cost her everything. **Everything**. _How could she be so stupid?_

Lightning struck the blue sphere of fire, but there was no deafening explosion, no dust clouds, nothing. In a place where Azula had been standing, there was only a crater. Azula had disappeared like smoke.

...

Sokka and Toph were holding hands as they ran from the fire benders across the ship's hull. Eventually, they came to the edge, and the only direction in which they were able to move was down. Sokka didn't hesitate and jumped off. With one hand he held strongly onto Toph, who was screaming in fear and shock, while in the other he held his trusted space sword and tried to slow their descent by plunging it into the ship's side. Sokka had to look after Toph. The blind bandit had become like a little sister to him, who — unlike the gentle, motherly Katara — was a prankster and trouble maker, and he was not planning to lose her, not now when she was so vulnerable. Right now, she was truly blind. No metal, earth, or anything for her to use, only thin air below them, and moving at this speed there was no chance of getting of here ... alive. Suddenly, the sword slipped from the hull where it had made a huge gash, and Sokka with Toph fell down. Fortunately, Sokka managed to land on one of the protruding platforms. Unfortunately, the crash was not good; he had dislocated his leg and could not move. Despite the searing pain, he maintained his grip on Toph's hand as she was now dangling in the air, only his grip preventing her from a very unpleasant and forceful contact with her favorite element.

"Hang on, Toph!"

"Aye aye, captain." Toph voice carried clear hints of fear.

To say that Toph was not as happy as Sokka would be Understatement of the month. She hung between earth and sky, life and death, and the only thing that separated her from her certain death was Sokka's outstretched hand, which she wasn't going to release. A couple of firebenders were either too stupid or too certain of their victory, and tried to attack intruders, but Sokka was quicker and with his free hand he reached to his trusty boomerang and hurtled it at one of the soldiers. **Headshot!** Boomerang collided with head, knocking the soldier clean out, only the rope preventing a fall to his death. Not hesitating for a second, Sokka grabbed his space sword's hilt and threw it at the platform the other soldier was standing on. The metal on the platform was no match for the space blade; it sawed right through the strut and the soldier fell a few feet before being caught by the rope attached to his armor.

"Bye-bye, space sword." Sokka watched as his weapons vanished into the forest below, unconsumed by ongoing inferno. He heard footsteps, and a squad of soldiers lined up on the walkway. Elite Firebenders were ready to crisp them to ash.

Then, when Sokka thought that it couldn't become worse, it did. He felt his grip on Toph starting to slip, and only a desperate clutching of their fingers prevented the blind girl falling to her death. The way things looked, she was already dead, but she didn't know that yet—she was either going to suffer _that_ fate, or be burned alive.

_"Hold on sis, hold on until I think of something ... anything ... Think Sokka ... think ..."_ thought Sokka.

_"Shit!"_

"I don't think boomerang is coming back, Toph." Sokka hoped to at least ease her fear before they met their deaths. "It looks like this is the end." He looked down at Toph to see tears flood her eyes. She understood.

Toph could not hold Sokka's hands and slowly slid. Tears flooded Toph's face when she realized what Sokka said. Her hand slid and slid it could no longer keep up…and so she released it. **She fell**. If she had been able to survive for at least a couple of seconds longer, she would have easily landed on another airship, an airship controlled by Suki.

But fate seems to have other plans. Plans where she no longer existed. Or maybe...? She could hear how Sokka fell on the airship and was shouting her name. Toph didn't care about anything except for one thing: the fact that she did not tell Sokka that she likes him, and will not have another opportunity. She understood the awful truth, that this was the end; the Blind Bandit's end…_her_ end. Although she still had so much to say to their friends and relatives, so many opponents to beat. Now was the last opportunity to tell Sokka how she felt. She screamed "Sokka, I-" and lost consciousness. That's it. The End.

But was it the end? When she was about to hit the ground, a bright white light surrounded her, and she disappeared.

...

Azula's mind was clear as water. There were no thoughts. Her survival instincts would cause her body to automatically create a protective sphere, but experience told her that this would not be enough. She hoped for a fluke and waited for the shock, but ... but nothing happened. **Strange**. Azula opened her eyes and looked around. She stood in a meadow full of beautiful flowers.

Suddenly the screaming girl's voice reached her ears, and fell silent. Azula looked around, but found nothing, until she raised her eyes to the sky. But then it was too late to back out. The girl fell directly on her.

...

My head is ... my hand ... my foot. Both girls would moan if this had been any other place, but it was as far from normal as one could get. Azula awoke and tried to get up, but could not. Something was on top of her. A body. A _dirty_ body. Azula pushed away from the unfamiliar girl, inadvertently waking her. They both stood up and Azula finally recognized the other girl.

**"You!"** Azula yelled, trying to hide obvious hints of surprise and also trying to look intimidating, forgetting that girl in front of her was blind. For minute, the other girl did nothing.

"Fire bitch" said Toph, in the same manner as Azula.

Then both girls took them bending stances and struck out...

... and nothing happened. Both girls were unnerved; why couldn't they control their elements?

"Welcome!" a strange voice called out, and both of the girls turned to its source.

Azula wanted to scream when she saw what was standing in front of her, but her self-control helped her to abstain. At that time, Toph's mind finally realized that the ground was quiet. Too quiet. No sounds or vibrations. She felt utterly blind. In addition, the notion that somewhere nearby was a crazy fire nation princess that could kill her any minute, and the fact that she could not earthbend, further fueled the fear. But for some reason, the fire bitch did nothing, which was more curious than disturbing. Why?

"Do not show any emotion, and do not move out of place, or we are dead." Toph heard Azula said. She also felt how Azula hand clenched her hand. Toph could feel that Azula hand and voice shook as if she saw something scary. _"What could scare the mad Fire Nation princess, who seemed to be fearless? Whatever it was, it had to be something very terrible and dangerous. And that could mean fun in some way." _

Toph froze like a pylon and lowered her head down, ready to flee at any moment.

"Hi" the girls heard a second voice.

"Where are we? Are we dead?" Azula said.

"It has been a long time since I added a pretty woman's face to my collection." Breaking off form its musings, the voice added, "Yes and no. You are in the spirits world, and your friends think that you are dead. But we have moved you here one second before you die so technically you're still alive."

"You can look for yourself," said the second voice, and the nice meadow was replaced by crystal clear water. In the water, Azula saw her brother with Mai and uncle; the avatar with that cursed waterbender and her brother with his girlfriend; and many other people she couldn't recognize.

"Hope Toph and Azula found peace at last."

"No one should morn that. Azula is dead and we are glad that she ... You'd better comfort your brother, look how broken he is. He blames himself that he couldn't save Toph."

"We gathered here to remember Toph, show some respect for her"

"My baby."

...

"Why are you showing us this? I know that people think I am monster, but that's just how my father ..."

The voice interrupted her. "We can return you back. Alive. Before those fatal events. Or we can leave you here if you like."

"We would like to return"

"But if you don't learn from your mistakes, I will, with great pleasure, add your faces to my collection." said the same voice.

**"Koh ..."** Toph said. She finally remembered the story Aang told her about the spirit world, including Koh and what he's capable of.

"I've got news for you, I'm blind and I'm not affected by your tricks." Said the earthbender, waving her hand in front of her eyes. Azula wanted to laugh, but resisted it. _"That girl could be valuable ally if thing had turned other way. Anyone who could mock the face stealer and get away with it ..."_

"Open your mind." Koh said in a seductive voice. Toph lifted up her head, the fog that enveloped her eyes disappeared ... and she screamed.

The first ... and possibly the last thing she saw with her eyes: there was ... blaze and hard to describe what happened next, but it looked like ...nightmare ... like some ... overgrown centipede and ... it was still growing? Bigger and bigger! ... And something ...something was wrong with the way it looked ...it moved? And what was in ... Then she connected view with name. Koh! And what that name associated with. Toph stood like petrified for few seconds. She didn't know how long she was standing, but she woke up when someone desperately shook her hand, trying to slowly flee. Toph released her hand and desperately hid her face in her hands when she realized that she just broke the rule to be unbreakable.

_"Goodbye, face! Even though I have never known how I look."_

"**Koh!** Behave! You almost scared those two poor and innocent girls to death. I know that you like it, but we have other plans." Uttered the first voice and overgrown centipede turned around and went back.

"Yes, ... mom, ... but they aren't poor, or innocent, for that matter; so young and they already have big head counts. The only difference between them is that one is called hero, and the other, monster." Koh said.

"We will do ... a little experiment, and give you an opportunity to live in the other nation's person's body for 1 year. After that, we will decide if you are worthy to be ... **Alive**." One of voices said. Azula could swear that she saw ... speaking carrot ... with a straight face ... faces ... or something like that. _What Spirit looks like carrot? Can't remember any. _Azula could swear she knew all major spirits – _and this one should be major one_ – all thanks to Ozai and his forced and painful lessons she and her brother had to attend about spirits and the Avatar then they were still young and ... happy. Ozai even sent commander Zhao to scour the great library of Wan Shi Tong for it. Unless he didn't wanted her to know about it for some reason, like it was with ocean and moon spirits. _Why?_

_"Apparently I am dreaming. Strange to see, and don't feel, and it's getting weirder and weirder. Perhaps this is what is called 'sight'?"_ thought Toph.

"But if anyone finds out who you are, or you tell anyone, I will personally take care that **no one **will know who you were." Koh added, spinning between two girls.

Azula and Toph wanted to say something, to object, but it was interrupted by the other voice.

"You can select one of two things to keep, but you both can't choose the same thing."

"Your bending, or..."

"**Bending**" Azula said before Toph could say anything.

"It is decided then" Koh said, and the bright lights once again covered the two girls.

"It seems that you forgot to mention that they move not to someone else's body, but swapping for each other's."

"I could, but that would just take all the fun out of it. It is very amusing to mess with mortal lives…you know how I enjoy it. Especially if it involves my old friend, the Avatar. Besides, we were bored."

"You are evil Koh, you know that?"

"Yes and I like it that way." "_And if we're lucky, we can get rid of one pesky spirit."_ "Besides, we are not breaking rules, just bending them a little bit. Not like Agni did _or should I say he and She will try to do._"

**AN: It is said that to know someone you need to walk mile in their shoes, but what to do if that person walks barefoot and hate shoes? Lets just say both girls have some new and interesting experience.  
**

**Can you guess what was other thing? And what that overgrown centipede is up to?  
**

**Please don't forget to comment/review and let me know what you thought of it, thanks! I really want to know what you think about it. :)  
**


	2. The Awakening

**AN: ****_Avatar: the Last Airbender_**** belongs to Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko.**

**I would like to thank to Vladimir Zhivanevskaya for Beta chapter. **

The girl awoke in her silken bed, peering out from cracked lids as the haze of sleep clung on to her. It was still dark outside, so she decided to sleep a little bit more. She closed her eyes and rolled over, shifting to a more comfortable position, but she couldn't fall asleep. Something was wrong.

"Sweetheart!" An unfamiliar feminine voice broke through her grogginess. "You're finally awake!"

She turned towards the direction of the sound, finding nothing. She sat up on the bed to have a better look around, but all she could see was darkness.

"Mom?" The word came unbidden to the child's lips; for no real reason, some part of her believed that this was her mother's voice.

"I'm here, darling." Thin arms gently embraced her. "We were so afraid that you would never wake up."

She felt invisible hands emerge from darkness and hug her. She felt so close to another person, but how could that be? "_Where is she?"_

"Mom, where are you? Why I can't see you, or anything?" Her shaking voice toned down to a whisper. "Everything is so…_dark_."

"I'm here for you, darling; I'm here." The woman said, pressing herself even more strongly against her daughter. "Everything will be fine."

"What's wrong with my eyes Mama? Why I can't see anything? Who am I? Am I blind? Where am I? ..." A thousand questions spilled out of the girl's mouth, tears falling from her useless eyes as she realized that she didn't have any of the answers.

"You are the light of my eyes, Toph, my little flying piggy-wiggy. You are home. We were very worried about you, but now everything will be fine." Her mother took her by the shoulders and looked into her daughter's eyes, useless though the gesture may have been.

"You truly do not remember anything, do you? The doctor said that this might happen." Her worry scrabbled around the edges of her voice, threatening to break through at any moment.

The girl could only nod, panic beginning to grip her.

"Oh…" Her mother's tone softened even more, the soothing caress of a breeze on a warm summer's day, but even that could not lighten the blow to come. "My dear, you were born blind. We used all our connections, everything that we could think of, but nothing we did for you helped." She waved an arm in the air helplessly, the motion lost on her unseeing companion.

The sudden awareness blasted through the shoddy, half-made rationalizations she had used to deny the truth. _"I'm blind!"_ She hid her tear-stained face in her mother's embrace.

She had just begun to calm down when she heard the door open and someone enter the room.

"I am so glad that you finally woke up, Toph. Your mother was very worried about you, and never moved from your bed."

"Who are you?" The girl asked.

Lao stopped short, his face frozen in a smile that quickly drained from his eyes. His beloved daughter didn't recognize him! Surely, it couldn't be… He looked at his wife and understood, her gaze telling him everything.

The head of the Beifong clan took a deep breath, composing himself. "I am your father, Lao. Poppy, darling, let the doctor see to our daughter now."

Kissing her daughter on the top of her head, Poppy rose from the bed, turning back as she reached the door. "I have put your dress on the bed so that you can get dressed when the Doctor is finished checking your health."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After the survey, the doctor and her parents left Toph's room to discuss her state. They didn't want to worry their little badgermole more, as she had just woken up and was still reeling from the shock of losing both her sight and her memory. The girl was left alone in the room and sat on her bed, absently feeling around as she struggled to understand her situation.

_"Who am I? Who were those people? My parents? Why I do not remember anything? Toph? Is that my name?"_

She found a dress lying next to her and tried to put it on, but something bad happened and she fell off the bed, crying out as she crashed into the ground. The door opened and footsteps rushed towards her.

"Toph! Are you hurt?" Poppy helped her daughter up, untangling the dress from around the child's legs.

She began to cry, a twice-suppressed memory from a previous life causing her to cringe. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't punish me. I..I'll be better, I promise!"

"Punish you? Why should I punish you? I love you, my little badgermole." She gathered Toph up into her arms, squeezing her tight as if she could destroy her daughter's troubles by crushing them.

"Because I am a FAILURE! I can't see, I can't walk without bumping into things, and I can't even dress myself without falling over. Why would you want such a child?

"Don't talk such nonsense! You are Toph Beifong, and like all Beifongs, you are strong, stubborn, and shrewd. Be strong, like you always were! Don't worry, you will remember how you managed to do all those things, or invent new ways. I trust you."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Toph awoke in her silken bed, her fine-tuned internal clock telling her that it was still dark outside; she didn't bother opening her eyes (she only did so to freak people out, anyways), opting to go back to sleep. She was jolted into awareness quite suddenly, as something inside her screamed that it was time to _wake up!_ Grumbling a mild protest, she slowly lowered one leg on the ground to familiarize herself with her surroundings.

Toph preferred to sleep on the ground unless it was too noisy and she couldn't sleep. Her biggest advantage against normal people – seismic sense – let her see everything around her, a 360-degree panorama that ignored hindrances to sight such as obstacles and lack of light. With the sky as the exception, she could see further that anyone else, but it had one major flaw: she couldn't turn it off, not even when she slept. It was always on, and sometimes the constant barrage of vibrations caused her discomfort. The word "privacy" had no meaning for her—doors were just barricades to keep people out, and it had taken her a while to realize that they weren't supposed to be "see" – through. Her seismic sense invaded other people's personal space and let her see even most intimate things, things that she didn't want to see—_shouldn't _see—and tried hard to forget what she saw. Most of the time, though, the images stayed with her, like how babies were made (even if she didn't understand at first what it was). She couldn't just close her eyes and stop seeing like normal people; that didn't work for her.

Sometimes, when she had been living with her parents in Gaoling, or staying in Ba Sing Se, she had chosen deliberately to blind herself, sleeping on a bed instead of the hard floor, away from the calming solidity of the earth. It looked like this was one of those times, or that's what she thought. Unfortunately, she would soon be proven wrong. Therefore, she proceeded with her well-known routine. Lower one leg to the ground, familiarize yourself with the environment, then rise and do whatever you need to do.

She always made sure that nothing that could interfere with her seismic sense was lying around her bed. Once, Sokka decided to prank her and laid furs around her bed, and the profound feeling of _nothingness _had freaked her out, but that was nothing compared to what she did to Sokka when she learned that it was his doing. After that, Sokka never dared to try that prank again, respecting that the space around her bed was a sacred and untouchable place. That didn't mean he didn't try anything else, and Toph made sure she repaid him well. She was glad that Sokka never stopped messing with her (though she would never admit it)—back in Gaoling, her parents had never really played with her, thinking her too weak to do much else than sit around and be read to by servants too scared of her parents to allow her to do anything fun. She often found herself wondering what new pranks he or she could think of to pull on each other or the rest of the gang.

However, this time things were different or, thinking back all those months ago, similar to the time Sokka had tried this type of prank. Toph's feet connected with soft carpet. She tried to sense her surroundings, but couldn't, which meant that someone's ass was going to feel pain, _lots_ of pain and she already had her target in mind.

_"I think I made myself clear when I explained him that the space around my bed was untouchable; looks like I have to remind Snoozles about that when I find him." _She didn't think it would be hard, as the Blind Bandit could find anything, or _anyone,_ once her feet were connected with her favorite element (may the spirits have mercy them). First, she would have to get off this stupid carpet.

Now that she couldn't feel her surroundings, she lowered both of her legs to the floor and tried to stand up, but her foot caught on something and she fell to the floor, hard.

"AHRRRRRRRR" Toph growled like an angry badgermole, gripping her leg in pain. While she lay there, she became aware of some…odd new feelings. She was naked, not totally, but ... and ... clean? And the Smell. The SMELL! She smelled like herbs and flowers, a sickening concentration of aromas that assaulted the senses. Her usual earthy scent was gone; someone had given her bath._"Sugar Queen!"_

Toph didn't mind hygiene when she was doing it herself, on her own terms, but she hated it when she was forced to do it. Her protective layer of dirt was just that—protection—and she didn't like to be separated from it. That meant no baths, except for the rare occasions when she wanted to.

There was also something strange with her body. It felt taller, more slender… were those boobs? She could feel her nails; they were long, sharp, and pointy. And her hair was so long! Toph had never felt more feminine, and that wasn't merely because of her tomboyish nature.

_"What's happened to me?"_

Pushing her worries to back of her mind, Toph roamed the room on all fours, trying to find a spot that wasn't covered with carpet, with no luck. Quite suddenly, she bumped into something; it seemed like a wall, but different somehow. The Blind Bandit stood up using the object as a guide and opened her eyes for first time, more out of instinct than anything else. A rush of information flooded into her mind, a torrent of indecipherable data, against which she was unable to defend. A scream erupted from her lungs before her brain overloaded, and she fainted. None of this would have happened if she had simply opened her eyes while she was still in bed...or would it?

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Toph awoke in her silken bed. Again, but this time it was different.

_"Am I still dreaming?"_

She could hear sound of people talking nearby. Judging from the sounds, there was one male, and one female. Toph slowly opened her eyes, and then quickly closed them. This was not dream. It was real. But why? And what was with her eyes? Did those useless things randomly decide to start working?

"Azula? How are you feeling?" A male voice broke into her thoughts.

"_Azula? Where?"_ Toph flailed to get up at the sound of her enemy's name. _"My bending is acting up. Did Azula have that crazy acrobat do something to me?" _For some reason, being helpless in the lair of a psychopath did little for her already frayed nerves.

Firm hands pushed her down with just enough force to keep her from shifting around. "Azula! Relax! You have just woken from a long coma. You may not feel like yourself for some time, but it will pass." The same voice reassured her.

"_Wait…what? Does he think _I _am Azula?"_ Toph wanted to scream at him, tell them that she was most definitely not Azula (crazy fire nation bitch), but a voice inside her mind, one awfully familiar to Sokka's, told her that this could be bad idea. Toph opened her eyes, thinking that if she had her sight back, she might as well look around—that, and she was hoping that she would see Snoozles laughing at a successfully pulled-off prank. All she saw were strange blinding lights and shadows. It was making her dizzy. The world looked so strange, not like her usual soothing darkness. She covered her eyes with her hands, the brightness too much for her.

_"Don't get your hopes up Toph, those useless things never ever worked no matter what you tried, so why it should start working now?"_

The man shook her gently. "Azula, can you see me? Look at me!"

"No!" Toph yelled at him, indignant at being disturbed. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

"I am Shyu, one of the Fire Sages. Now, please let me look at you, princess. You were perfectly healthy, so we decided that your ailment wasn't physical, but spiritual, and that's why I am here." Shyu said, pulling at Azula's hands lightly to remove them from her face.

Toph knew that name; it belonged to the Fire Sage that helped Aang to talk with avatar Roku at the fire temple on Crescent Island. Sadly, he was later captured, pronounced a traitor, and executed.

_"And now he is here, and is talking with me. How is that even possible? And what kind of 'ailment' is he talking about? Some kind of spirit mumbo jumbo?"_

Toph didn't resist, removing her hands from her face, keeping her eyes were still closed. Then, taking a breath to steel herself, she opened them. The light was still blinding and making her dizzy, but if she concentrated, she could try differentiating between light, shades and shadows, but nothing more... for now. She could make out the silhouettes of two people in the room with her. It was bizarre, seeing with her eyes the images that her feet had always conjured up for her; they hurt her head, blending and clashing and making everything look weird.

"You have beautiful eyes, young princess; I don't see what could be wrong with them. They must have weakened from constant darkness, but they should be fine after some time. Your whole body just recently woke from a long sleep, so it's normal for you to take a while to get up and running again." One of silhouettes spoke with a female voice, its tone a comforting one, but Toph remained skeptical.

"And just who are you?"

"My name is unimportant. I am here to serve you, my princess. Firelord Ozai made it very clear as to what my duties are."

_"Firelord Ozai? No way!"_

An important question popped into Toph's mind, something that she shouldn't have this much trouble remembering. "How long have I slept? What is the date?"

The woman looked at her questioningly, but replied quickly." Hmm ... It is start of 8 mouth of 99 ASC, my princess."


End file.
